Migration To WordPress

Google's Last Post

Google has demanded I register with it immediately to continue using Blogger. Since I consider Google complicit in the enslavement of the Chinese people, today will be my last Blogger posts.

Google is racing to buy users, and having bought them, to first lock them in and then make money from them - that's capitalism.

Since buying Blogger, Google has developed a new version that requires Google registration. Until today that's been an option, but now it has announced registration is mandatory to blog after today.

Google collaborates with the Chinese tyrants by censoring the searches of their captive peoples. Its creepy founders say this is no different from the elected US government tracking communications with foreign terrorists.

I'm guessing they'll delete blogs that don't register, so have archived all posts.

If I can find a less flawed organization to host this blog today, I'll post a link.

A preliminary report by the American government has confirmed allegations Israel used American-made cluster bombs against civilian targets during last year's war in Lebanon in violation of an agreement with Washington.

The findings of the US state department's initial inquiry, which was passed to Congress, showed Israel broke an undertaking only to use the weapons against military targets.

"There were likely violations," said Sean McCormack, the state department spokesman.

Hizbollah launched all of its rockets from civilian areas, so State is being its usual slimy self in condemning Israel's "violations". As it happens, the Israelis make their own - rather better - cluster munitions. If they didn't they'd now be facing a US embargo of a crucial homeland defense against Hizbollah's next attack.

Defense Minister Amir Peretz's decision to choose a short-range rocket defense system developed by Rafael - Israel's Armament Development Authority - as the system the defense establishment will develop to defend Israel against Kassam rockets has apparently sparked off a new argument between him and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Olmert is probably objecting because Condoleezza Rice told him to - his recent transfer of $100 million to the Palestinians while they continue to rocket Israel only makes sense as a response to State pressure.

RAFAEL should develop the weapon whatever Olmert decrees. Eventually the Israelis will replace him with a more robust leader who will buy the weapon. Plus it will make a great export.

Chinese Junk In Orbit

Eighteen days after the Chinese Communists tested their satellite-killer, the Hubble telescope went dark. It's possible these events are related, but even if they aren't, the Chinese have shown they can interdict near-earth space, where our intel satellites fly.

I initially figured the Chinese weapon was a paper tiger, since using it would be a very expensive act of war. But they may be smarter than I thought.

The Chinese test, carried out on Jan. 11, was at once complex and very simple. An old weather satellite, passing 537 miles overhead, was targeted by a missile launched from a Chinese military base. The missile hit the satellite with deadly precision. The missile carried no bomb because it didn't need one. The satellite was pulverized by the impact.

But what followed was chaos in space. As of today, Kelso (a surveillance specialist) reports that American radar is tracking at least 525 pieces of debris from the collision -- each at least the size of a baseball.

There are probably hundreds, if not thousands, of smaller ones.

The pieces are gradually spreading out in a ring around the Earth, creating a vast area where spacecraft face increased danger of being hit.

"We've already seen in the range of 500 to 600 events where some piece of debris from this one event was coming within 5 kilometers [about 3 miles] of some payload," said Kelso.

Debris much smaller than the size of a baseball can knock out a satellite, and 18 days later:

The primary camera on the Hubble Space Telescope has shut down and is likely to be only marginally restored, NASA said Monday, a collapse one astronomer called "a great loss"...An initial investigation determined its backup power supply had failed, NASA said.

The Hubble needs servicing, so this may be coincidence. But it's a reminder that China could, with a few more such "tests", apparently innocently sterilize the 400 to 500 mile orbital band that's used by our intel satellites.

The Bush administration has suspended plans to develop space ventures with China, including joint exploration of the moon, in reaction to Beijing's Jan. 11 test of an anti-satellite weapon that left orbiting debris threatening U.S. and foreign satellites.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration spokesman Jason Sharp said the weapon test undermined an agreement reached between President Bush and Chinese President Hu Jintao during an April summit.

"We believe China's development and testing of such weapons is inconsistent with the constructive relationship that our presidents have outlined, including on civil space cooperation," Mr. Sharp said.

He said there were "some initial discussions looking at where there were mutual interests where we could cooperate with the Chinese," but there are no plans for future discussions. The two presidents had hoped to work on joint moon exploration and space-debris avoidance.

I hope we're deploying lots of surveillance UAVs to Taiwan - our intel satellites could be a wasting asset.

He says Kyoto requires that Canada make significant cuts in emissions, while countries like Russia, India and China face less of a burden.

Under Kyoto, Canada was required to reduce emissions by six per cent by 2012, while economies in transition, like Russia, were allowed to choose different base years.

"Kyoto is essentially a socialist scheme to suck money out of wealth-producing nations," Harper's letter reads.

How true, although its presented by the Canadian equivalent of the BBC as if he'd revealed a penchant for snacking on babies.

Presumably inadvertently, the piece then neatly exposes the mindset of the global warmers:

Liberal MP Mark Holland told the Canadian Press on Tuesday that the leaked letter shows that Harper isn't actually committed to climate change.

Of course one should never be "committed" to a scientific theory, since all but the most recent have been disproved, and its only a matter of time before they bite the dust.

That's because science advances through a cycle of measurement, and theorization plus prediction - as soon as the theory fails to predict correctly, it's discarded. Global Warming theory does not predict historic climate change, so as a theory at least it has ceased to be.

The author of this book shrewdly observes that the supporters of discredited theories always try to censor discussion of alternatives; hence even Canadian Liberals know the game is up.

Monday, January 29, 2007

Bolton's Hubris and Nemesis

Saturday was the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, when the world observes Holocaust Memorial Day. Except, that is, for the northern Brit town of Bolton - it followed Muslim policy and opted out. This hubris will be followed by nemesis.

The Jews of Europe were the most numerous of the victims of the Holocaust in what the Nazis called the "Final Solution of the Jewish Question"...or "the cleaning"... It is commonly stated that approximately six million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust, though estimates by historians using, among other sources, records from the Nazi regime itself, range from five million to seven million.

The Muslim Council of Britain...currently maintains a policy of refusing to send official representatives to any of the official events associated with Holocaust Memorial Day.

In September 2005, Muslim advisers to Tony Blair suggested the event be ended and replaced with a Genocide Day, which would commemorate victims of all genocides without attributing uniqueness to the Holocaust.

Forty per cent of Muslims between the ages of 16 and 24 said they would prefer to live under sharia law in Britain, a legal system based on the teachings of the Koran. The figure among over-55s, in contrast, was only 17 per cent.

In some countries, people found guilty under sharia law face penalties such as beheading, stoning, the severing of a hand or being lashed.

January 2017

Fox News reports:

Cops Hunt Islamophobes.

British police mounted a major manhunt for hooligans who rioted in the northern town of Bolton last night. The riots caused extensive damage to many of the city's 40 mosques.

The riots followed Bolton's hosting of England's first execution under sharia law.

Following Iranian precedent, a woman was hanged from a crane on the town's Victoria Square. The 15 year old woman was convicted by a sharia court of having sex prior to marriage with a 50-year old man. Sharia courts were given authority in designated areas of England under the "Ramadan Agreement" between the Muslim Council of Britain and Prime Minister Cameron.

To preserve the privacy of the perpetrator's family and her victim, her identity cannot be revealed. However a 10 minute video of the hanging is available on Snuff Google.

Greater Manchester police have issued a Hate Speech Suppression Order to all British news media. This means that adverse reflections on these lawful events will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law under the Religious Hate Speech Act (2012).

January 2027

AP reports:

The British government reported the elimination of the North of England Caliphate, marking the "Final Clearance" of the UK.

After last week's fall of Manchester, Deportation Authority Forces subdued the neighboring town of Bolton. Armored forces backed by RAF Lightening ground support bombers, and Army attack helicopters swept through the town, engaging insurgents in the town's 60 mosques, all of which were destroyed with UAV-mounted laser cannon.

A "Churchill" mini-neutron bomb were employed to cleanse fanatics from the National Heritage listed Town Hall, which suffered little material damage to its historic fabric.

This final elimination of the caliphate and its peoples from England was welcomed by the Prime Minister as she entered Downing Street. "Rejoice, Rejoice! she cried to assembled reporters.

The Deportation Authority announced a total of 350,000 insurgents and their families have now been shipped to the Islamic Reservation in the north of the former Pakistan, and a further 75,000 were en route, escorted by 4 super carriers of the Republic of India. With the elimination of the caliphate, a further 20,000 survivors remain to be deported.

January 2037

BBC World reports:

The council of the English town of Bolton has declined to observe Caliphate Memorial Day, which marks the elimination of Islam's last bastion in the UK.

A spokesman said "Of course we regret the destruction of European Islam, and the death of 20 million Muslims. But they died in accordance with their belief in death, whereas our lads who died cleansing them wanted life. Our thoughts will be with them on Remembrance Sunday."

Police used computer experts to obtain confidential material, and are also believed to have approached Number 10's internet suppliers to gain access to government email records.....

The cash-for-honours investigation took another dramatic twist last night after it was alleged that detectives had uncovered a secret computer network at Downing Street from which potentially crucial emails had been deleted.

This is nonsense.

"Government email records" are highly protected. For example, all systems at Number 10 will be TEMPEST rated, preventing external eavesdropping. Plus the emails will be encrypted and their servers heavily protected against intrusion and attack.

If the cops "computer experts" successfully hacked this system, a) they committed a criminal offense, and b) the Security Services personnel responsible for the security of government communications should be fired.

And of course if the highly compromising emails were deleted, how come the cops know they were "potentially critical"? Anyway, this confirms it's a political hit:

Police are expected to report to the Crown Prosecution Service, which will decide if there should be any prosecution, next month. ITV News said that charges were unlikely because of the difficulties of proving any criminal intent.

Scotland Yard is close to submitting a report to the Crown Prosecution Service to ask it to consider whether there are grounds to extradite a Russian businessman in connection with the murder of Alexander Litvinenko, it was claimed last night...

Downing Street, fearing major damage to Anglo-Russian relations because of emerging evidence that there was a "state-related" Russian source of the polonium, is alleged by Yard insiders to have asked police to keep quiet about the inquiry.

Actually, the cops are bound in law to "keep quiet" about inquiries except in tightly controlled circumstances.

Friday, January 26, 2007

Italian Lessons For Iraq

Iraq is a brave attempt to bring democracy to a brutalized people. But it seems increasingly probable it won't work, because the level of corruption and associated low social capital can't support a democracy.

These dark thoughts are occasioned by four days trying and failing to put a deal together in Italy - a nation halfway between the US and Iraq in its corruption level.

A measure of the amount of social capital - and hence trust - in a nation is its Corruption Perceptions Index rating, which tracks corruption in public officials. Finland is least corrupt with a score of 9.6, the UK comes 11th equal with a score of 8.6, and the US is 20th equal with a score of 7.3 (I suspect dragged down by the likes of Louisiana).

Italy comes 45th, with a score of 4.9, the most corrupt of the "old" EU nations other than Greece, which scores 4.4.

Buying real estate in Italy is an agonizing process - we've had three deals fall through when the vendor upped the agreed price after he thought we were hooked. That's typical of a low trust society.

We live part of the year in another nation that scores somewhere between Italy and the US, and as previously noted observe the people there gain social cachet from behaving dishonestly and selfishly.

Modern economies and democracies depend on contracts, both based on trust. Absent that, economic players spend a lot of their time insuring against breach, while politicians play that game for money, not vanity. So, in spite of the enormous talents of the Italian people, their economy struggles to keep up with the other EU nations, and their politics are a corrupt farce The low CPI might even explain the very low Italian birth rate - marriage is a contract!

Now consider Iraq. It has a CPI score of 1.9, making it the third most corrupt nation in the world - even the Iranian kleptocracy comes in at 2.7. If Italy struggles at 4.9, its hard to see Iraq building a modern, democratic economy at 2.7.

There's some hope - Iraq will likely hide islands of integrity, and if the US does concede defeat, perhaps those islands will survive - the Kurds for example.

But if we can't help corrupt nations to modernize, their future is bleak,

Monday, January 22, 2007

Cellphones and Security

Brit security often combines maximum inconvenience for consumers with zero added safety. X-raying babies' shoes at airports is an example - and here's another on their tracking of cellphones.

We live in three separate countries, so use SIM-free cellphones, plugging in local SIMs when we get off the plane - that saves paying over $2/minute for local calls.

Cellphones broadcast for each call a) the phone's unique ID, and b) the SIM card's unique ID. So if you have a database of phone and SIM IDs linked to the names and addresses of their owners, you track who makes calls to who, and when.

I just tried to replace my phone in the UK, and found all Brit online stores won't deliver unless you provide some mix of name, address, age, DoB and occupation. The one I chose then accessed the (I thought private) Brit Electoral Register to check if I'm registered to vote at my address & finding I wasn't demanded an identity thief's cocktail of utility bills, passports and driving licenses "to confirm my identity". This is vastly more intrusive than the credit checking imposed by the folks who sold me my ThinkPad - which costs 10 times the phone.

The SIM purchase process also requires an address - but that's not verified, so you can invent one.

So it seems the Brits track cellphone calls.

That sounds like it would help catch terrorists looking to repeat the Madrid or London bombings. But it wouldn't - any sane terrorist will buy phones anonymously from a Pakistani market stall, and UK SIMs using false addresses.

So the net is an incremental cost for non-terrorists and no security gain.

Blair, State Criminal (2)

Blair is finding that undermining the rule of law hurts him just as much as the Northern Irish.

There's currently a fuss about him giving Lordships etc in return for cash contributions to his Labour party. I think this is overblown - all politicians reward their supporters this way, and absent a smoking gun, it's impossible to prove linkage.

One of Tony Blair's most senior advisers was arrested in the cash-for-honours probe today on suspicion of perverting the course of justice and over alleged honours offences.

Ruth Turner, No 10's Director of Government Relations, was arrested at her home in London this morning. She was questioned at a London police station and bailed to return pending further inquiries.

So she was arrested without charge, questioned without charge, and had to post bail to obtain her freedom. And presumably, since she wasn't charged, she wasn't read the Brit version of her Miranda rights or allowed to call her lawyer. That's dirty pool.

Still, it'll cheer up the poor bloody Northern Irish.

The bad news is that Brits have to live with the loss of their ancient Common Law rights. As William Penn observed:

"... However, this I leave upon your Consciences, who are of the Jury (and my sole Judges) that if these Ancient Fundamental Laws, which relate to Liberty and Property, and (are not limited to particular Persuasions in Matters of Religion) must not be indispensably maintained and observed, Who can say he hath Right to the Coat upon his Back? ..."

...was the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2001. At its peak the force had around 8500 officers with a further 4500 reservists...

303 officers were killed and over 9000 were injured during the troubles (mid-1960s to late 1990s), of whom 277 were killed in attacks by the...IRA.

That's a higher casualty rate than the Brit Army in Iraq, every year for 30 years. But they died in vain - Blair folded to the IRA, abolishing the RUC and replacing it with the Police Service of Northern Ireland - dropping "Royal" to emphasize the new cops serve the Irish, not Brits.

The RUC (and Brit army) had defeated the IRA when Blair took power and folded to the terrorists. Not surprisingly, they've used his support ever since to pursue RUC cops. Here's their latest (my ellipsis):

The Royal Ulster Constabulary Special Branch protected a paramilitary gang linked to 15 murders while members were run as police informers, a report said today.

The report published today by Nuala O’Loan, Northern Ireland’s police ombudsman, revealed the extent of police...collusion that gave (a Brit Loyalist) and his henchmen a form of immunity from the law.